How To Monitor and Track Your Blood Sugar

In the above video you saw how simple it was to monitor and track your blood sugar levels using the Freestyle Precision Neo Test Kit. You probably now have questions about how often you should be testing your blood sugar and what readings you should be looking for and what they mean.

How Often Should I Test?

To answer that question depends on where you are on the diabetes spectrum. Remember these are guidelines only and this is something you should discuss with your doctor. This information is from everything I have personally read and learned so far on my journey.

Prediabetic

If you are not currently taking diabetic medication:

Sunday- No testing required

Monday-Test before breakfast and two hours after breakfast (Before 70-100 mg/dl fasting or 70-120 mg/dl if not fasting, After meal 1-2 hours, < 140mg/dl)

Tuesday- No testing required

Wednesday- Test before lunch and two hours after lunch

Thursday- No testing required

Friday- Test before and two hours after dinner

Saturday- Test at bedtime

Type II Diabetic taking Diabetic Medication but not Insulin

Monday- Test before breakfast and 2 hours after breakfast (Before 70-140mg/dl, After <160mg/dl)

Tuesday- No testing required

Wednesday- Test before and after lunch

Thursday- No testing required

Friday- Test before and after dinner

Saturday- No testing required

Sunday- Test before bedtime

Type II Diabetic taking Insulin or Type I Diabetic

Sunday- Test upon waking, before lunch, before your afternoon snack, before dinner or at bedtime; and before exercising or driving (80-140 mg/dl fasting, 80-160 mg/dl,- premeal range,overall < 180 mg/dl)

Monday- Same as Sunday

Tuesday- Same as Sunday

Wednesday- Same but test after your meals as well

Thursday- Same as Sunday

Friday- Same as Wednesday

Saturday- Same as Sunday

Important Recordkeeping

Record your daily test results and consider keeping a food diary of what you are eating. Also, keep track of your portion sizes, if possible, particularly of carbohydrates consumed. If your numbers are high or out of range, you can cut back the portion or eliminate the offending food all together. Remember though your level of physical activity, amount of sleep, stress level etc., not just your food intake effect on your blood sugar.

Education.. Action..Attitude

Learning more about diabetes — taking action to monitor and record your results when testing your blood sugar and not allowing the minor pain and inconvenience of testing to make you a victim of diabetes.

To keep up-to-date make sure you join the Facebook Group and comment below on your thoughts regarding this article.

Often referred to as Juvenile Onset diabetes because half of folks diagnosed with this type of diabetes are under 20 years old; this type of diabetes can also be diagnosed later in life.

Normally it requires the person to require insulin injections because the immune system has a defect which caused it to attack the pancreas killing off beta cells which normally produce the hormone insulin lowering or stopping the pancreas’s ability to make Insulin. With no or little insulin to regulate and allow glucose to enter the cells to be burned for energy blood glucose rises in the blood stream causing havoc in the body.

Signs and Symptoms

Frequent Need To Urinate

Increased Hunger

Weight Loss

Unexplained Fatigue

Since glucose can’t reach the cells the body reverts to burning fat which causes the Type 1 Diabetic often to lose weight. The burning of fat causes the production of Ketones which in a diabetic can rise to dangerous levels which may cause a fruity odor to the breath and if not treated can be toxic and can lead to the diabetic going into a coma.

Managing Type I Diabetes

This can be a delicate balancing act and more than ever you need to seek out professional help and support.

As in the other forms of diabetes you need to be under a Doctor’s care and your insulin levels need to be closely monitored and regulated.

Diabetes Type II- Essential Information

You Need Now.

Type II Diabetes develops when your body becomes resistant to insulin or when the pancreas stops producing enough insulin. The exact cause is unknown,although genetics and environmental factors, such as excess weight particularly in the mid-section and inactivity, seem to be contributing factors.

What is Insulin?

Insulin is a hormone that comes from the Pancreas a gland in your body
located below your stomach

* The pancreas secretes insulin into the bloodstream.
* The insulin circulates, enabling sugar to enter your cells.
* Insulin lowers the amount of sugar in your bloodstream.
* As your blood sugar level drops, so does the secretion of insulin
from your pancreas.

What is Glucose?

Glucose is a sugar and is a main source of energy for cells that make up
muscles and other tissues.

* Glucose comes from two major sources: the food you eat and your liver.
* Sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream, where it enters cells with
the help of insulin.( Think of Insulin as the key that opens the door into
your cells for sugar or glucose to enter and to be burned as fuel)
* Your liver stores and makes glucose.
* When your glucose levels are low, such as when you haven’t eaten in a while, the liver breaks down stored glycogen into glucose to keep your
glucose level within a normal range.

In Type II Diabetes, this process stops working . Sugar builds up in your bloodstream. As blood sugar levels increase, the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas release more insulin, but eventually these cells
become impaired and can’t make enough insulin to meet the body’s demands.

If untreated you can become a Type I Diabetic, the immune system destroys the beta cells, leaving the body with little to no insulin.

Factors Increasing Your Risk

* Weight. Being overweight is a primary risk factor for type 2
diabetes. The more fatty tissue you have particularly in your midsection themore resistant your cells become to insulin. But, you don’t have to be overweight to develop type 2 diabetes.
* Inactivity. The less active you are, the greater your risk of type 2
diabetes. Physical activity helps you control your weight, uses up glucoseas energy and makes your cells more sensitive to insulin.
* Family history. The risk of type 2 diabetes increases if your parent or sibling has type 2 diabetes.
* Race. People of certain races – including blacks, Hispanics,
American Indians and Asian-Americans – are more likely to develop type II diabetes than whites are.
* Age. The risk of type II diabetes increases especially after age 45. That’s probably because people tend to exerciseless, lose muscle mass and gain weight as they age.

But type II diabetes is also rising dramatically among children, adolescents and younger adults.
* Prediabetes. Prediabetes is a condition in which your blood sugar level is higher than normal, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes. Left untreated, prediabetes often progresses to type 2 diabetes.
* Gestational diabetes. If you developed gestational diabetes when youwere pregnant, your risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases. If yougave birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds (4 kilograms), you’re also at risk of type II diabetes.

If you have any of the above symptoms or you are in a high risk category as outlined above you need to see your doctor immediately and inform her or him of your family history of the disease if known, your signs and symptoms and have your Doctor order the appropriate lab tests. Your Doctor can help you evaluate your lab test results and what those results mean.
Your Doctor may run a series of these tests on different days as necessary to confirm where you are at in the spectrum of pre-diabetic to Diabetic.

The types of test that can be run to diagnose if you are diabetic or not
include:

A1C: It’s like an average of your blood glucose over the past 2 or 3 months.

Fasting plasma glucose: This measures your blood sugar on an empty stomach.
You won’t be able to eat or drink anything except water for 8 hours before
the test.

Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT): This checks your blood glucose before
and 2 hours after you drink a sweet drink to see how your body handles the sugar.

IMPORTANT: Diabetes is not something you can manage on your own or ignore.

I hate going to the doctor as much as anyone else out there but this time
you need to go to a doctor. It is time consuming and will cost you but
failing to deal with your high blood sugar can have lasting effects to
include damage to your heart and blood vessels, kidneys, eyes, nerves, wound healing, sexual function and pregnancy.

Mark’s Note: I highly recommend this book. I found my copy at a local Walmart right after I was diagnosed with Pre-diabeties. Dennis’s writing style was perfect and he quickly put some of my fears to ease with his simple no nonsense non- technical explanations and tips. Following his advice I dropped from 255 lbs to 220lbs in about a months time mostly by eliminating sugar when at all possible and lowering my carb intake. This brought my blood sugar levels down a lot.

I will be talking more about this book and what I learned in other posts in the near future but if you have been just diagnosed I would pick it up right away and read it cover to cover. After you have checked it out let me knw what you think, OK in the comments section below or on the Facebook Group.

It’s projected that in 50 years, one American in three will be diabetic. Many today are well on their way to becoming a sad statistic in the war on obesity, high blood sugar, and the related diseases―including diabetes―that can result from a diet that’s seriously out of whack.

In his previous bestselling book, Overcoming Runaway Blood Sugar, Dennis Pollock shared his personal experience with this deadly epidemic―including his success at lowering his runaway blood sugar to acceptable levels.

Now Dennis offers readers the next step in the battle: 60 practical ways to manage their blood sugar without resorting to a bland unsatisfying diet of turnips and tuna fish.

In this step by step, change by change plan, readers will learn how to:

reduce their intake of carbs

exercise more effectively

shed excess weight

A must-have book for readers serious about regaining their health while also lowering their weight and increasing their energy.

If you have a Pre-Diabetes diagnosis then be thankful. Now before you think I’ve gone crazy here me out.

I got a Pre-Diabetes diagnosis and believe me my first thoughts were not ones of gratitude but were more of the why me variety. After a little reflection I realized I was fortunate because I had an opportunity to take action to improve my health hopefully before too much damage was done.

Why Me?

The answer to the Why Me part was easy. Diabetes can be a hereditary disease. My Mom and her Mom had diabetes. My Mom progressed into being a Type 1 Diabetic. She had a lot of complications from the disease. She struggled to eat right and to keep her blood sugar levels in an acceptable range. My brother is diabetic. I was and am overweight and in the past few years have became more sedentary. I enjoy food, like to cook and barbecue, and enjoy a cold beer as much as any other guy. I also like carbs,not just the liquid kind like beer or a Coke but rice (Cajun food), bread, etc. Yup, a regular fat poster boy for Diabetes.

Pre-Diabetes Definition: An A1C Test Result between 5.7-6.4,Fasting Blood Sugar of 100-125 mg/dl

The Mayo Clinic Staff lists these factors that also might indicate you might be Pre- Diabetic or at risk of becoming diabetic:

Ask your doctor about blood glucose screening if you have any risk factors for pre-diabetes, such as:

You’re overweight, with a body mass index above 25

You’re inactive
You’re age 45 or older
You have a family history of type 2 diabetes
You’re African-American, Hispanic, American Indian, Asian-American or a Pacific Islander
You developed gestational diabetes when you were pregnant or gave birth to a baby who weighed more than 9 pounds (4.1 kilograms)
You have poly-cystic ovary syndrome — a condition characterized by irregular menstrual periods, excess hair growth and obesity
You have high blood pressure
Your high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is below 35 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) (0.9 millimoles per liter, or mmol/L) or your triglyceride level is above 250 mg/dL (2.83 mmol/L)

If you are Pre-Diabetic and do nothing studies have shown that within 10 years you will develop Type II Diabetes.

If you scored high on either of these tests please have your doctor evaluate your risk further and get an A1C and fasting blood glucose test conducted. If you are pre-diabetic or diabetic take action to preserve your health.
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